Necromancer, but pre-collapse civilization

　Moros has many grievances regarding the undead legion's current ranged war machine—the ballista.

　Through real-world testing in a series of battles that cleared the demiplane, he had gained a deep understanding of the true performance of the Rune Ballista of the Ashan World.

　These war machines, which cost exorbitant prices in the cemetery city, even exceeding the price of a ghost dragon, are only equivalent in performance to a 12-pound M1857 Napoleon cannon.

　Despite its excellent mobility and accuracy, the Rune Ballista is far inferior in performance compared to the artillery equipped by the regular army of Mu Continent, or even to the modern artillery equipped by other countries of the former civilization.

　In other words, there was no other choice; otherwise, Moros would not have been willing to continue keeping the rune ballistae in the Undead Legion's battle order.

　Even though Moros possesses a high [Attack] attribute of 20 points and [Knowledge] attribute of 21 points, making the Rune Ballista's damage output reach a respectable 82-123 points, its significant disadvantage in range compared to modern artillery still greatly reduces the Rune Ballista's practicality.

　More importantly, only one rune ballista can enjoy the attribute bonus of Moros himself, while the damage of the rest of the rune ballistas is only at the basic level of 2-3 points.

　Therefore, when given the opportunity to acquire modern artillery, specifically the mainstream 155mm heavy artillery of the Mu Continent, Moros would naturally accept the "friendship" of the wealthy and powerful in Fuyuan City without hesitation.

　After clearly expressing his satisfaction with the gift, Moros stepped into the still slowly rotating, dark blue demiplane passage.

　As Moros's figure disappeared, the azure vortex slowly closed, and the demiplane passage shut down once more.

　If those six 155mm howitzers hadn't disappeared, everything that just happened would probably seem like an illusion.

　Ignoring how the handover personnel would report to the powerful figures in Fuyuan City, Moros dismissed these thoughts and ordered the skeleton archers to board the tractor and tow the six newly acquired 155mm howitzers to the outskirts of Cemetery City.

　His goal was to try to get undead soldiers to operate these heavy artillery pieces.

　Since the necromancers of the past could create skeleton archers who could drive trucks through necromancy, Moros, who now has a deeper understanding of necromancy, can naturally implant the memories of operating these standard heavy cannons into the soul fire of the skeleton archers.

　That's right, it's a skeleton archer, not a plague zombie.

　When Morros first tried to get the plague zombies to operate the artillery tractor, he quickly realized it wasn't a wise choice.

　The plague zombies' stiff fingers and less-than-stellar thinking made them ill-suited for the task, unable to properly drive the tractor to tow the artillery.

　No wonder that even after countless years of development, the skeleton soldiers in the world of Ashan, despite their many weaknesses such as being fragile, having low health, and having little potential for development, are still the most popular undead unit among necromancers. Their agile hands and feet and ability to execute commands are indeed unmatched by other undead creatures.

　With these thoughts in mind, Moros dismissed the dazed plague zombies and instead gathered an equal number of skeleton archers, instilling in them the corresponding knowledge.

　Soon, thirty-six skeleton archers and six 155mm howitzers appeared on a vast plain far from the cemetery city.

　Apart from the six skeleton gunners who served as drivers of the towing vehicle, the remaining thirty skeleton gunners quickly deployed the towed 155mm howitzer into combat readiness.

　Each group of skeleton artillerymen consists of five skeleton gunners, who serve as gunner, observer, emergency repairman, gunner, and ammunition handler, respectively, to ensure the efficient operation of the artillery.

　Once all six heavy howitzers were ready, Moros began training the first batch of artillerymen in the cemetery territory.

　Given the nature of the undead, once the initial training is completed, Moros can extract the memories of the skeleton archers through [Necromancy], thereby mass-producing his own skeleton artillery force.

　As for the source of the 155mm howitzers to equip the skeleton artillerymen, Moros was not worried.

　With his blacksmith shop, Moros wouldn't be held hostage by the powerful figures of Fuyuan City.

　Reality is not a game. As a magical building, the Blacksmith Shop can certainly not only manufacture the four standard war machines found in the game.

　In fact, besides the rune ballista, the blacksmith shop also sells many other war machines such as small catapults and siege towers.

　However, these war machines were far less practical than the rune ballistae.

　The reason for this is not hard to understand.

　Ultimately, the world of Ashan is a magical world where ranged attacks rely mainly on spells, and the power of a mage corps is unmatched by any war machine.

　Only small factions that lack the resources to build a mage corps would consider war machines like rune ballistae as alternatives.

　In this situation, the war machine of the Ashan world naturally has no...

　The law is comparable to the pre-collapse civilization in which Moros lived.

　After all, in the world of Ashan, intelligent people all went to study magic, and those who studied war machines were naturally incomparable to the former.

　Getting back to the main point, although the existing war machine templates in the [Blacksmith Shop] are somewhat lacking in practicality, as long as there are physical samples, the [Blacksmith Shop] can analyze and copy these war machine templates by consuming resources.

　This means that once Moros obtains the template for the 155mm howitzer, he can purchase the actual product directly from the blacksmith shop for Ashan gold coins.

　However, compared to the rune ballista that can receive the attribute enhancement of Moros, this grenade launcher purchased from the [Blacksmith Shop] will only have basic firepower.

　Of course, WarMachines can still be used to enhance the war machines purchased from the blacksmith shop.

　Thanks to his experience with rune ballistae, Moros's training of skeleton artillerymen, though fraught with difficulties, was progressing steadily overall.

　After most of the day's effort, the Skull Gun crew operating the howitzer finally fired the first shell.

　Although the shells deviated from their intended targets by several hundred meters, this was undoubtedly a landmark achievement.

　The subsequent training goes without saying. After firing hundreds of shells, the skeleton artillerymen finally gained real combat capability.

　After copying the memories of these skeleton artillerymen using Necromancy, Moros ordered them to drag the howitzers back to the cemetery territory for analysis.

　Just as Moros had anticipated, after spending 18 Ashan gold coins, the Blacksmith successfully deciphered the War Machine template for the 155mm howitzer.

　[Muda 155mm Howitzer]

　【Life: 1500】

　Base damage: 100-150

　[Range: 75KM]

　Ammunition: 60

　[Price: 18000]

　Browsing through the descriptions of the latest items in the Blacksmith Shop, Moros placed an order for three artillery batteries (18 guns) without hesitation.

　By instilling the necessary memories into the skeleton gunners who were brought in to operate these howitzers, Moros now possessed a well-equipped battalion of 155mm howitzers.

Chapter 69 Command Ability and Spell Learning

　Compared to the Mu Continent Army, which could overwhelm the First Herrscher of Reason with the firepower of its conventional army, the firepower of a 155mm howitzer battalion is negligible.

　However, lacking real-world combat experience, Moros was cautious about equipping this expensive war machine on a large scale.

　In Moros's eyes, although the standard 155mm howitzers used by the regular army of the Mu Continent far surpassed the performance of artillery of the same level in previous countries, their combat power was still insufficient compared to the new artillery modified by Honkai energy.

　As a necromancer, Moros knew that investing in outdated war machines was not a wise move.

　Furthermore, the undead legion currently lacks effective ranged attack methods, mainly because its exploration in the realm of magic is not yet in-depth.

　If he were now a genuine legendary spellcaster, then legendary spells would be the most powerful ranged attack method.

　Given that the 155mm howitzer only plays a transitional role in the Undead Legion's order of battle, Moros naturally would not equip this artillery on a large scale.

　After ordering the newly recruited skeleton artillerymen to move the 155mm howitzer battalion out of the cemetery city for training, Moros began to ponder how these newly added war machines to the Blacksmith's inventory could cooperate with the undead forces.

　Although Moros never stepped into the military academy in this life or the previous one, it does not mean that he knew nothing about commanding undead troops.

　As the iconic force of the Necropolis faction, the Undead Legion's combat command has been the subject of extensive research within the Necropolis faction.

　Although necromancers are slightly inferior to death knights in terms of actual command and buffs to the legion, in theory, necromancers are by no means inferior to the servants they create.

　As a result, the magic guild has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and skills on how to accurately command undead legions.

　Through in-depth study of these command techniques, Moros has become quite competent in commanding the undead army.

　Of course, this is by the standard of a necromancer.

　In the eyes of a proper Death Knight from the Necropolis faction, Moros's current command skills can only be described as those of an average trainee.

　He was able to deploy his troops systematically according to the textbook instructions, preventing the undead army from rushing in like a rabble, but that was about it.

　Without the aid of campaign spells, this level of command ability is only comparable to that of an ordinary noble officer in the Greyhound Duchy.

　As the lowest-ranking military power among the eight major duchies of the Ashan world, the command level of ordinary noble officers in the [Lingti Duchy] is so low that it's a matter of course that anyone with a basic understanding of the situation would understand.

　Let them wipe out some bandits and clean up the area.

　Monster troops in the wild are fine, but expecting them to command armies that can do anything on the brutal battlefields between factions is pure wishful thinking.

　However, reality doesn't allow for "what ifs." With the power of magic, even if Moros's command abilities were limited to this, he would still be a competent commander in the Necropolis faction.

　However, this level of command ability is clearly insufficient to support the design of complex tactics.

　Therefore, after careful consideration, Moros decided to abandon his initial idea of ​​fully integrating the 155mm howitzer battalion into the undead legion.

　Aside from engaging in artillery battles with the regular armies of the previous civilization, just treat them as oversized rune ballistae!

　As the saying goes, "When the thought of giving up arises, one suddenly feels a sense of vastness," and after making this decision, Moros instantly felt a much lighter burden on his shoulders.

　In any case, his foundation lies in the magical knowledge stored in the cemetery territory and the magic guild.

　The addition of technological creations such as howitzer battalions will undoubtedly enhance the strength of the undead army, but they are not indispensable.

　However, while Moros could adopt a lame attitude and use the 155mm howitzer battalion as a large rune ballista, the necromancer would never be perfunctory when it came to magic, the very foundation of his existence.

　Moros was well aware of how hopeless the future was in his time.

　To protect those you care about during the cataclysmic end of the world, the strength of a near-legendary rank is far from enough.

　Moreover, given Moros's intelligence, he certainly understood the principle that "dragons do not live with snakes."

　To be worthy of exceptional individuals like Alicia, Eden, and Velvi, Moros knew he needed a sufficiently high level of magical skill.

　The Magic Guild, the Library.

　Moros sat quietly at the table, his left hand gently supporting his weight on the surface, while his right hand intently flipped through a spellbook containing information on the third-level dark magic spell "Confusion".

　[Mind Deception]: Causes the target troops to forget what they are supposed to do on the battlefield, and some of them will forget to attack from a distance and counterattack.

　This spell is somewhat useful in war, but since the battle spells granted by the Magic Guild are completely random.

　Therefore, it is very regrettable that Moros did not obtain this spell during the process of upgrading the Magic Guild.

　If Moros wants to officially include [Mind Control] in his spellbook, he must follow the normal spell learning process and invest time and effort to study and master this third-level dark magic.

　This is not an easy thing.

　Take, for example, the technique of "deceiving the mind" that Moros is currently learning.

　The spellbook recording the spells of this battle is not much thinner than the famous encyclopedia, Encyclopædia Britannica.

　According to the spellbook, the spell model of [Mind Deception] contains more than 300 main spell chains, and each chain has no fewer than 5 spell nodes.

　In addition to these, Moros also needs to learn and master the corresponding spell node construction methods, magic rune drawing, and link spell variations.

　Even for Moros, who was at the near-legendary level, it would take several days just to memorize this relevant knowledge.

　However, memorizing knowledge is only the first step; understanding it and translating it into practical battle spells takes much longer.

　Even though Moros's life level has already risen to the legendary rank, it will still take him at least one or two months to truly master this level three dark magic.

　This was even after he had reached a cooperation agreement with the powerful figures in Fuyuan City and had ample resources to support him.

　Before the cooperation was reached, due to the lack of resources available for unrestricted spell experiments, it would likely have taken Moros twice as long to learn this level of battle magic.

　But there was no other way; Moros knew that such a spell-learning process was indispensable in order to become a qualified spellcaster.

　If you rely solely on the hero panel to level up your heroes, not to mention where you'll get the increasingly terrifying experience points as the game progresses, the hero panel itself also has its limits.

　The maximum hero stat provided by the Cemetery City is level 40. To break through this limitation, Moros can only rely on himself.

　Therefore, even though he was dizzy from studying, Moros could only sit at his desk and slowly gnaw on the spell manual spread out in front of him.

Chapter 70 Trivial Matters and Signs of Impending Collapse

　Just as Moros was struggling with the level three dark magic [Mind Control], Eden embarked on her path to becoming a legendary superstar.

　With the dazzling stage of XX Entertainment Company gifted by Moros in hand, Eden's starting point has already far surpassed that of his predecessor in the official history, who was only able to have his ban lifted because of the "Heavenly Music Charity Performance".

　Even amidst the predicament of being blacklisted, she persevered and forged her own artistic path. Now, with an even better start, Eden's journey will undoubtedly be even more brilliant and dazzling.

　In just a few months, Eden has made a name for itself in the classical music field and won widespread acclaim.

　Even with the full support of XX Entertainment Company

　This achievement was by no means easy.

　After all, in this internet age, keyboard warriors' tastes are always unattainable.

　Their admirable talent is proof enough of Eden's extraordinary achievements in classical music.

　It is worth mentioning that, compared to the path of art in official history, Eden now faces far fewer troubles.

　This is easy to understand.

　With Eden's captivating beauty, it was natural that she would attract the covetous eyes of countless powerful and wealthy people.

　To this end, they would artificially create obstacles in an attempt to force Eden to submit.

　Although Eden's talent and ability will ultimately thwart the schemes of these powerful figures, it is undeniable that these disturbances will indeed slow her path to becoming a superstar.